Tallgrass Zen Center

12/19/2025

The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not judge. They are totally on our side. They are representations of the unconditional intelligence, compassion and love of the universe, so they never are judging us. They don’t care. They see only our Buddha nature, our true potential.

- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Photo: Manali, 2022.

07/25/2025

It is very important to remember that the ego, the sense of self, is very happy to be miserable because if we are miserable, if we are unhappy, if we are angry, if we are feeling very sorry for ourselves, we are thinking, "Me, me, me, me me." Which is what the ego wants. Everything revolves around "me".

- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Photo by Olivier Adam: Jetsunma giving a talk at Sakyadhita, Australia, 2019.

10/30/2024

10/21/2024

The Buddha is not a god. We are not trying to make him into a deity, but the whole nature of reality is love and intelligence, and that we can plug into, but it’s not as a person, because we have gone behind the personality now. We are dealing with the ultimate nature of what is, and that is light and love and intelligence, which, if we open our hearts to it, corresponds to our own nature too. The Buddha isn’t something out there, who is giving us favors, kind of: "Please, Buddha, can I pass my exam next week?" It’s not like that! You will pass your exams next week if you study hard this week!

- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Photo: Jetsunma smiling in front of golden statues in a temple in Tibet, 2007.

09/04/2024

09/03/2024

Lama Rod Owens